VOTE BLOCKS MORALES FROM ANOTHER RUN

LA PAZ Bolivian President Evo Morales has grudgingly accepted his first direct electoral defeat in a decade in power, the narrow rejection of a constitutional amendment that would have let him run again in 2019.

“We lost a democratic battle but not the war,” he said Wednesday. “Evo’s work is not done.”

He blamed the loss on a “dirty war” by the opposition and an “external conspiracy.”

Asked if the process of choosing a successor would begin, Morales noted he still has four years left in office.

“It’s not the moment to speak of a successor. There is a lot of time for that.”